[LoboDiabloLoneWolf]

GUARDIANS, THIEVES, AND INDUSRTY--The battle for Last Legs (cont.)

They traveled up the ramp until they entered a side building. More series of ramps went higher to the keypad, but the same grunts came from upstairs. Guns clicked from safety, Wolvarks muttering to themselves. Some even turning to others, and insulting them of their hygiene or their personal looks. High above on flat pipes were the snipers; their goggles glowing a tinted teal-blue. Stranger held back Umi, and continued up the ramp to the top floor. He kept his presence low, kneeling down with the corner of the landing. A smatter of various Wolvarks stood absent-minded on the top floor. Semi-autos and Automatics hummed random tunes to themselves. Stranger quietly unlocked his bow, and placed on Rabid Fuzzles and Spark Stunks. He placed the Fuzzles right at the head of the stairs, then waited for the right moment to fire the Stunk. The first guard came close to the ramp. Before the Wolvark could shout, the Stunk was shot. A powerful suction, and smell, wafted out to the Wolvark guards, bringing them closer to the place where the Stunk was first shot. Fuzzles growled angrily at the piled security guards. They leaped on, and stuck like Velcro on the Wolvarks, as they screamed bloody murder.
“C’mon!” Stranger shouted to Umi. She ran up behind Stranger, and ran with him up passed the disabled guards. They got up to the straightaway, where the Wolvark snipers held their grounds, and shot purple pulsating lasers at the charging Steef. Footmen hid behind wooden crates, just to surprise the Steef with hail of bullets. Umi held back away from the battlefield, watching Stranger continue on. Bullets came close to his hind legs, and his wounded legs as well.
“Watch out, Stranger!” Umi shouted. She knew he couldn’t hear her. The gunfights were too loud for his hearing. She gave an irritated sigh, swinging her rifle out in front, and concentrating on the snipers above. The accuracy of the gun wasn’t good, but a few good bullets pinging off the metal will snap the sniper’s attention away from Stranger, maybe even get a few hot rounds in them, too. The gun clicked off of safety, and the trigger was tightly in hand. She tried to get the best view of the Wolvark’s head, then shot off a few rounds. The bullets panged off the metallic rust of the pipe, and shards of sharp metal stung at their goggled faces. They growled irritatingly, wiping the specks of metal and blood off their faces. They pointed down at the human knelt down, and heated their rifles up.
‘Good,’ Umi thought. She stood back up, holding the rifle further out in front. Sparks flew out of the sniper’s guns, with ready grins behind the shower of purple and red sparks. The lasers were heated, ready to fire. Umi shot straight up passed the Wolvark’s heads, then the hail falling right back on them. The bullets hotly burned holes in the head of the snipers. Two lasers shot randomly out, showing that the bullets had gotten them. Glass had broken from the heated lasers, and two heads peered over the edge of the pipe, bleeding drips of blood on the pavement below. Umi nodded her head in satisfaction, swinging the rifle back behind her. She walked down the straightaway, hearing Stranger’s ominous growling. She walked passed a wooden crate, to see him, holding a Wolvark grunt, by the neck, and holding his dangling, flailing body over a steep drop below to the water.
“Now I know yer can’t swim there. I can tell by the way yer whining,” Stranger pulled the grunt’s face to his. “But I ain’t gonna hesitate, ter drop yer to yer watery grave, maggot,” he sneered heinously.
“Ok, Stranger. Enough. I think you scared the thing enough,” Umi patted his tensed arm. Stranger snorted in its face, then placed it back on the straightaway. He bent down to it.
“Get movin’,” he whispered. The Wolvark screamed a high shrill, and scampered away, flinging its arms in the air, and dropping its rifle. Stranger snickered at the fleeing Wolvark. “We won’t be dealin’ with ‘im again, fer sure,” Stranger grinned. Umi bent down to the Wolvark’s rifle, and undocked the ammunition locked in its chamber. She strapped it to her belt for future use, then turned back to Stranger.
“Yeah, well, we don’t have time ter screw around. Them Grubbs ‘r comin’ in with catapults. Remember…?” Umi said in a reminder tone. Stranger made an agreeing grumble, taking a slow look around, then back down.
“Damn,” he scratched the back of his head. “Din’t knows how big this damn place is…” Umi laughed, hesitating it for a moment.
“Took yer that long, Stranger?” she smoothed strands of hair on her head. He smirked down to her.
“Hate’s it when yer a smart-ass…” he mumbled. He trotted along the straightaway, approaching to a curving ramp up to the last keypad to open the water gates. He allowed Umi to step up to the keypad pulsating a teal blue, since he didn’t know how to work computerized objects, which made Umi laugh. She typed quickly in to the keys, and slammed on a key, that made the bottoms of their feet rumble and vibrate along with the creaky opening of the water gate. Stranger nodded gratefully to Umi, then walked to the edge of the platform. It was a sheer drop to the bottom of the river of water, and to the dock where his boat was. Umi walked up next to him, having her hands on her hips. She grumbled in a challenging way, then looked up to Stranger. He looked to her as well with a curious look.
“What’r you thinkin’, squirt?” Stranger asked, with a playful grin. She only shrugged a shoulder.
“Eh…think’s I’m’a go fer a dive,” Umi said. Stranger’s throat choked.
“No you won’t,” he firmly said. Umi only smiled, and crouched near the edge. “Umi,” he nearly yelled, walking over to her back. She tipped over the edge, making a point of her body down to the water. “UMI!” Stranger roared, clipping his claws on the metallic base of the platform. He knew the water was still freezing from the outside, and he knew the dilemma of Umi being in the water once. He saw her self splash in to the water, going all the way under. He groaned ruefully, holding his face in his palms of his hands. “Kid…why don’t yer listen ter me…” he moaned. She resurfaced, shaking off the water dribbling down her face. She looked up to Stranger, still on the platform.
“C’mon, Stranger!” she yelled up. Stranger glanced down to her through a crack in his hands. “It’s not that cold!”
“Why didn’t yer listen ter me!?” he bellowed. Umi didn’t reply, but swam to the boat. He sighed roughly, standing fully up. He looked below to the water again, then leaped off the platform, fully with his body out. He cringed in to a sloppy ball, then gushed in to the water. Waves buffeted Umi’s face, sending water up her nose uncomfortably. She sneezed the water out, then turned around to the waved dieing out. Stranger reemerged from the depths of the artificial river, taking in a deep breath.
“Told yer it wasn’t that cold,” Umi told. Stranger mumbled some curses under his breath, and swam by Umi in to the boat. They sat comfortably as possible in the boat, dripping coldy of water. Stranger gripped the rowing oars, pushed off the ramp, and headed in to the water gate.